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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Scratching The Panfish Itch- By Slab Seeker Guide Service

Scratching the Panfish Itch

By: Garett Svir

Photography: Kim Svir

It’s finally my favorite time of year, early ice. My auger is
tuned up and ready. My new Clam shelter is assembled, and my Vexilar battery is
charged. My thoughts have started to drift to what skills I would like to hone
this season. The addicting part of ice fishing for me is putting together the
puzzle and unlocking the mysteries of the world below the frozen surface. That
equals finding fish where others seldom look. According to a recent survey on
my Facebook page, an overwhelming amount of anglers say the greatest skill an
ice angler can improve on is the art of finding fish. This was seen as a
greater skill than jigging style and bite detection. Then why do some anglers
congregate over community hot spots, so accepting that the fish are simply not
biting? These anglers have yet to be stricken with what we refer to, in my
group of friends, as the fish itch.

The fish itch is extremely contagious and usually comes on
shortly after having success off the beaten path. Far out of sight, anglers
with the fish itch, strike out confidently over fresh untapped ice. Symptoms
begin as a feeling of persistence that drives you to keep searching until you
have located fish. As symptoms eventually progress, you will begin to find
larger concentrations of willing biters. Rumor has it that some anglers, who
have had the itch for years, will eventually be able to pursue some of the
largest specimens in a given lake, known as slabs and bulls. You will begin to
recognize anglers with the itch this winter as they move quickly between holes,
Vexilar in hand. If you have been stricken, here are some ways that you can
scratch the fish itch this season.

Lessons
from the Past

Taking lessons from the past is a huge part of finding fish on
your own and gaining confidence away from the community hot spot. When going to
a new body of water, try to find areas that have the same characteristics as
the areas where you have caught fish in the past. Panfish tend to relate to
similar areas on most bodies of water. Learning to identify fish holding
characteristics and translating them to different bodies of water will lead to
future success. One of my favorite crappie spots is a 20’ depression in the
middle of a small shallow bay. When I study a lake map of a new body of water,
I always highlight areas that mimic my favorite spot back home. One tip can be to visualize a contour
map in 3D. Looking for fish holding areas on a piece of paper can be difficult.
When you begin to see maps in 3D, you will get a feel for how fish relate to a
particular spot. You will begin to understand how they find cover from
predators, and how they find food.

Drive
thru Panfish

Drive through the community hot spot. It is always worth seeing
what type of areas the locals are fishing. Let’s say many of the permanent
houses are spread out over a 30’ hole, surrounded by a shallow weed flat. I will begin to search the lake
map for other areas with similar traits. Chances are if you can find a similar
spot with less fishing pressure, you may hit the jackpot. It can be a huge advantage to work in
a team with one angler walking ahead drilling, while the other follows with the
Vexilar. Quickly driving up to each hole on the snowmobile and swinging the
transducer in different directions will let you know if fish are present. If
fish are seen when swinging the transducer, it will alert you to which direction
to drill next. Once located, we drill holes closer together until we are right
on top of the bio mass. Missing a school of fish by ten feet is like missing by
a mile. The new Pro View Transducer from Vexilar has been a real game changer
the past few seasons. It allows an angler to control the cone angle with the
gain knob. The ability to search a larger area with fewer holes is a huge
advantage and allows for more time scratching the itch.

Be
Shallow

Searching shallower than everyone else
will often produce the largest panfish in a given water system. Panfish grow
large because they are able to avoid predators, including anglers. Noise from
anglers can push large panfish out of deep water and into heavy cover. Once in
the weeds they will find the oxygen, food, and cover they need to thrive. The
two factors that seem to draw fish are green healthy weeds and proximity to
deep water. Coontail and curly leaf pondweed specifically will often stay
green, even through the harshest fall weather. Hungry panfish will roam through
the weed stocks, like a pack of lions, looking for that next easy meal. While
pre-fishing for a tournament last winter, my wife and I stumbled on an
interesting pattern. While most anglers drilled out deep basins looking for
plankton feeders, we found huge bluegills gorging on Amphipods or freshwater
shrimp on a large weed flat. Watching these fish with our underwater camera uncovered
larger bluegills than we had ever encountered on this lake. We watched in
fascination as these fish made their way through the weeds with ease, sucking
shrimp off the stocks. Shallow water is where fishing fast really shines.
Because fish aren’t as visible in shallow water on electronics, we briefly fish
each hole we drill. By drilling a large
amount of holes we are assured to find the open patches, pathways and edges,
which hold the largest numbers of fish.

It’s
a Slippery Slope

Steep drop off’s surrounding main lake structure can also hold
large concentrations of fish. These areas hold food such as mayfly larva and
dragonfly larva. While these food sources can be present in many different
areas, the base of a steeply dropping slope will provide some of the highest
concentrations. For years, panfish guru Dave Genz has talked about these sticky
bottom areas. These areas house the correct type of substrate to allow larva to
burrow.

It takes a certain type of angler to
strike out away from the pack to uncover that next hot pattern, an angler with
the fish itch. Once you get the itch, you may acquire a renewed passion for the
hardwater season. It just may leave you dreaming for a late spring.